The pop star paid almost a million pounds more than the retail giants

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He earned less than Starbucks and Amazon made in profits last year but Ed Sheeran paid more in tax than either company.

Figures released this weekend showed that the pop star paid £5.29 million to the tax man compared to £4.5m that the international online retailer coughed up, and £3.3 million that the global coffee chain paid from its main UK entity, Starbucks Coffee Company (UK) Limited – though more tax was paid through other Starbucks subsidiaries.

Critics have complained that the complex structure of the company makes it hard to assess how its tax practices operate. The company said: “Starbucks paid £13.7m in tax in the UK in 2017 at an effective rate of 25.3%,”

And while he’s not short of a bob or two, Sheeran made over £27m in profit while Starbucks made £162m and Amazon brought in nearly £2bn in revenue.

Pop star earnings

According to The Sun, the 27-year-old’s company Ed Sheeran Ltd released its accounts over the weekend and showed that the business had a turnover of £36,293,611 and a gross profit of £27,376,900.

The Shape of You star paid exactly £5,293,424 in UK tax and has over £16m in the bank.

But the award-winning singer is not bothered about money and in an interview with OK! magazine last year, he said he isn’t motivated by cash.

He said: “It’s like, earn a penny, spend a penny with me. As soon as it comes in, it goes out. I don’t have that much value on it. I have more value on my friends and family being OK.

Money’s not an issue

“A lot of my money goes to charity or to children’s hospitals near where I live. I have enough to be comfortable and the rest goes to help people.”

Both Starbucks and Amazon came under fire this year after it was revealed how much UK tax both companies had paid despite their huge turnovers.

And they’re not alone – Facebook only paid £15.8m in tax in the UK last year despite collecting a record £1.3bn in UK sales. However, the social media giant managed to reduce its tax bill further by claiming £8.4m in tax credits from granting its employees shares in the company, so the net tax they paid was £7.4m – less than 1% of its total sales.

This post was updated to correct a reference to profits rather than revenue, and include a statement from Starbucks